Politics%20in%20Germany

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Politics in Germany

• Historical Legacies

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Federal Republic of Germany

• Population 82 million
• The most populous country in Europe
• except for Russia
• 68 million in the former West Germany
• Area about 3 times that of Mississippi
• Britain 2/3 Germany
• Germany 2/3 France

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A World Power

• Third largest economy in the world
• behind U.S. and Japan
• largest in Europe

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Historical legacy

• Late development in
• creation of the nation and state
• industrialization
• democratization
• consolidation of democracy
• Remarkable achievement in
• postwar economic development
• postwar democratic consolidation

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Build the nation state

• Second German Empire (1871)
• industrialization
• devastated by World War I (1914 - 1918)
• Weimar Republic (1919)
• first real experience with democracy
• economic problems
• war reparations
• Great Depression (1929)

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Democracy broke down

• Weimar Republic lost popular/elite support
• Nazi won 33 of popular vote in 1932
• institutions of Weimar Republic dismantled

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The Third Reich (1933 - 1945)
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Germany in ruins

• military and civilian deaths
• industry and transportation destroyed
• food scarcity

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Occupation

• Germany divided
• West Germany
• Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)
• East Germany
• German Democratic Republic (GDR)

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East Germany, West Germany

• Both were formed in 1949
• Basic Law of FRG (West Germany)
• Both had economic miracle (1950s - 70s)
• sustained unprecedented economic growth
• East Germany still lagged behind
• Both were integrated into alliances
• West European Community NATO
• East Warsaw Pact

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Reunification 1990-10-03

• Impact of Soviet politics
• Gorbachev reforms in 1980s
• GDR opened the Berlin border
• November 1989
• GDRs first free election
• March 1990
• Unification of the FRG
• October 1990

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A federal system

• Federal Republic of Germany
• federal government (Bund)
• 16 states (Lander)
• Other federal systems
• United States
• Unitary systems
• Great Britain
• France

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Federalism

• Usually described as a division of power
• spatial or territorial division
• component units are geographically defined
• states (e.g., U.S., India, Australia)
• provinces (e.g., Canada)
• Lander (e.g., Germany and Austria)
• cantons (e.g., Switzerland)
• regions (e.g., Belgium)

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A federal system

• Federal Republic is divided into 16 states
• 10 states (Lander) in the West
• 6 states (Lander) in the East
• including Berlin
• differences in historical traditions, social
  structure, dialect, and economy
• state jurisdiction in education, culture, law
  enforcement, and regional planning
• more governmental overlap than U.S.

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A federal system
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A parliamentary system

• central institution of the federal government
• bicameral parliament
• Bundestag (lower house)
• Bundesrat (upper house)
• Chancellor
• chief executive
• President (mostly ceremonial role)

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A bicameral parliament

• Bundestag
• primary legislative body
• 669 deputies
• directly elected
• Bundesrat
• represent state governmts at the federal level
• 69 members (3 - 6 per state)
• appointed by state government